Rebecca is 17 and comes from Leeds in the UK. She is part of Childnet International’s Youth IGF Project and Rebecca attended the IGF in Vilnius 2010 and also in Nairobi 2011.

A valued member of the Youth IGF Project she has previously described her inspiration for taking part in the IGF thus: “One of the main reasons for people not being online is a lack of motivation; people need to know the benefits of what is online and how their lives can be improved by it in order for this motivation to grow. It is impossible to motivate someone to be a part of something they do not understand and in some cases fear. If people are educated on how to be safe online and how to use the internet then this fear will go away and people will be more interested in being online, thus creating a larger online community.”

On the topic of youth participation in the IGF she said, “I think it is important to inform people that youth does have a voice. I noticed in Nairobi that even more than last year that people wanted to hear what we have to say, and took our opinions seriously. I think it is mutually beneficial for both the UN delegates and young people that we remain a part of the conferences as youth voice is becoming more and more relevant in government polices.”